ratesonamericans. they're saying they're willing to raise revenue, butpresidentobamahasone criteria in this debate and that's raising income rates on all americans. right now, the sides are in their two corners on this and nobody is moving. so we're really only a couple weeks out and there's this huge gap, and eamon was right in another aspect. there is this brush fire of conservative lawmakers who don't want to raise revenue at all. so this is a huge problem for speaker john boehner, huge problem for president obama, and for the american economy. >> so right. does this come down to political opinion? is that going to be the sway factor? and if so, where is the political opinion? who gets that vote? >> polls in the united states show that raising taxes on the wealthy is an attractive proposition, a popular proposition. this might come down to december 28th or december 29th, december 30th where both sides are still locked in their corners and one side has to give. now, president obama ran his campaign on raising income rates, raising marginal income tax rates on americans. s

is the guy thatpushedobamatoextend the bushtaxratesin2010. so reid would i suspect -- >> i'm starting to like him more. i thought of him as senator pat geary from godfather 2. but everybody loves harry. there's a song everybody loves harry. anybodies that that has anything to do with casinos loves harry. just a quick question. you were a big cap guy for a long time. now dividends rates where going up. are you still a big cap guy? i've been a small cap guy. i'll tell you you why. >> when did you switch? >> this is a while ago. the reason why, number one -- it's a growth story. >> do you like the natural gases play ms in small cap? >> the way we've invested, we haven't been looking at producers. we're looking at users of natural gas. i think that's been a little bit better. >> we'll hit that break at 6:50, the one that we keep -- >> let's do it. >> and write a six minute tease for that break. i'm going to have time to read the entire thing and people at the end of that tease, no one will leave before 7:00. >> because we never listen to the producers. >> the only reason people watch us i

holding the pen when he wrote, "i will notraiserates" inthat letter he sent topresidentobama. butthe problem is, we can agree or disagree with the president's position. i honestly take the president at his word. i do not believe there will be a deal here without some increase in tax rates for the top 2%. it doesn't have to be all of it, but some of it. i think the president has changed his tune a bit from the way he's handled some of these other negotiations. and take everything you say and turn it around. boehner and the republicans have to be aware of where obama's at in his own head and with his colleagues, which is no deal without some increase in rates, or we go over the cliff. >> let me just add one thing. when obama made that initial offer, we talked a little bit about how, you know, it was a wish list. it was ideological, whatever you want to say. i think it actually helped boehner in some respects because it gave him three or four things that he could then go back to his caucus and say, look, i moved obama off of this, this and this. and when boehner put his offer o

people. >> did you seethis,obamaisflexible on highesttaxrates. >>administration official. white house officials later signaled that. he didn't signal it in anything he said. >> i spoke to a couple who were at the meeting yesterday, some of the executives, who felt, and this is like the implied feeling that he was now more willing to deal on the highest rate. >> did you hear anything about spending cuts or entitlement reform? >> two conversations are taking place. one if the public trying to get them behind you. the other is whether you're actually saying to the people you're negotiating with. and when you saw the signal, it was like, okay, maybe they'll get to that, i don't know, 37% or 500,000 or something. what we had been talking about two weeks ago. maybe that's where they're headed. stocks did gain ground on optimism around the idea that we could reach some sort of a deal to overt the fiscal cliff. the dow closing more than 100 points higher after being down by more than that during the session. a swing like that hasn't happened since october 2011. u.s. equity futures at th

. >> and the weather. >> gretchen: the third thing is that the white house leaks are now saying thatpresidentobamaactuallymaybe wants to go over the fiscal cliff if the republicans do not agree to raising income tax rates even though yesterday they agreed to these deductions and loopholes and getting rid of them, which essentially many people argue, would do somewhat of the same thing. your thoughts? >> right. so there are going to be consequences for syria if they use chemical weapons and the president thinks there is going to be severe consequences for the republicans if, in fact, we go over this precipice and raise your hand if you're tired of this cliche about the fiscal cliff. he thinks look, the republicans will suffer terribly, the country will be thrown into some turmoil, he thinks and he thinks he's the winner either way. it's easy for the president and his team to go out there and posture on this. but both sides are playing this game a little bit. the republicans are doing the same thing. they're play to go their base. they want to make sure that regardless of what ends up happening at

? >> wouldn't that be nice? how about return to the bill clinton era on capitalgainsrates? itwas bill clinton who pushed it down. now president obama is pushing it way up. yet it would be nice to return to the basis of bill clinton, but that's not what we're doing. we're taking a little bit more here, a little bit more there, a little bit more over there. all to pay for all of this wonderful spending that the president wants. >> steve: maybe in four years when hillary runs for president. you have got to figure that's going to happen. >> i wonder what's going to happen to the economy. it's weak now, you raise taxes a little bit more, what happens to the economy? >> steve: so many people have been forecasting that the president does raise rates, couple of years ago, he said during a recession, that's the worst time to jack up rates. now we're not technically in a recession, but we're in a very soft edge. >> watch out, steve, 'cause here it comes, a little bit more. >> steve: thank you very much. stuart varney doesn't do show tunes, but does talk about the news of the day and politics an

marshallingtaxratesortaxes on the rich was a red herring in debt reduction. the problem that you have is right or wrong, obama has just won the election on that basic pledge to raise taxes. >> wrong, wrong, wrong! you know what, that makes no sense. how many people do you know that said i'm going to vote for the president to have more debt, and in an economy that can't grow it's way out of the issues? we currently only take in about 15.5% revenues. we need to get to 2021. >> i understand that. >> it's not a tax problem, it's a growth problem. and he has no growth plan. so then they blame others, because they don't have a plan. >> but he was able to get through the election doing precisely that. >> got through the election on social issues. on the economy, i think it's pretty clear that nobody voted for four more years of the current economy. four more years to get his house in order and he's not going to get his house in order using the red herring of taxes when it's entitlemen entitlements. it just isn't going to work, simon. >> i get it. i'm just pointing out -- >> you know what, le

presidentobama's proposalwhich includes a $1.6 trillion tax increase, a $50 billion economic stimulus package and new power to increase the debt ceiling without congressional approval. the offer featured higher tax rates for households making over $250,000 a year. a one year postponement of the sequester and about $400 billion in savings over ten years for medicare and other entitlement programs. >> despite the claims that the president supports a -- >> thousand is the time fnow is republicans to move past the happy talk about revenues, ill defined, of course, and put specifics on the table. the president has made his proposal. we need a proposal from them. >> today president obama is taking his pitch on the road. he will be visiting the philadelphia suburbs employing campaign style tactics in hopes of mobilizing the public to his side. he'll be speaking at a manufacturing facility arguing that businesses it depend on middle class consumers over the holiday season. despite all this, you see the futures today indicating higher. dow up by about 35. does that surprise you guys? >> no, i